The Joy of Strangers

I was hanging out at a coffee shop with some friends this evening. Now this particular coffee shop has some live music and serves beer in the evening and it was time for the next round among my friends and I. So I headed down to buy the next round. Walking down the stairs I saw this elaborate spread of rice and goodies on the counter. It looked like it was set up for a group in the corner.

Well, before I could make my way to the register to place a request for a few more pints I was waved over by a fun friendly gentleman who shoved a plate in my hand and orders me to dive in. Did I look like a starving student? Or maybe he was just happy to share since they had too much. I thanked him and asked what it was for while I daintily took some rice.

It's funny how asking a question like that gives you an entire back story and you suddenly know not just his connection but the connections among an entire group. His girlfriend, who was bustling over hotplates and piles of cakes at the time, knew Joy, a Korean woman who worked at the coffee shop. She, at the time was also uncovering her homemade korean BBQ. They knew the songstress who had been strumming the guitar for all our enjoyment for the last hour, so they had set this up for their friends.

It smelled delicious. As he explained how this bounty of food came to appeare before me, his girlfriend swiped my plate away and began to load it up with samples of each dish. Apparently I needed a lot more rice. Joy took my beer order and filled my pints as my pile of food on a tiny desert plate grew higher and higher. Paying for the beer I wished them all well and headed upstairs with an evil grin on my face, knowing I would be the envy of my friends.

I was, but it didn't last long. Only a few glares and a couple of fantastic bites later Joy arrived with several plates piled equally high, offering treats for all to indulge in. She admited to us, Korean BBQ was her specialty. I have to agree. She's pretty special!